Being Blessed

Do you ever think about how blessed you are? Most of us count our blessings when it comes to having a home, healthy kids, food to eat, etc., but I find that most of the time I end up focusing more on what went wrong with my day instead of what went right. So today I decided to try and think about all of the ways I was blessed instead of all the things/people/situations that irritated me.

1. I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast before heading out to story time at the nursing home, and they had donut holes there for everyone. Yea!

2. The checkout lines at Aldi were really long and the lady in front of me let us go ahead of her because she had a full cart and I only had about 8 or 9 items.

3. I returned something at Target without being treated like a criminal. (This is a HUGE deal. I never shop at Target because they have always had such a difficult return policy).

4. I found all but one item I went out for today (plus some extra things) and Jordis cooperated with me the whole time, i.e. four hours of running errands.

5. When I told Jordis I only had two coins to put in the wishing well at Whole Foods, the gentleman next to us reached into his pocket and gave her 8 pennies.

6. I got the first parking spot at Trader Joe's.

7. I didn't hear anyone talk about Charlie Sheen today. Okay, crap, scratch that one. I made it until 10:45 without hearing anyone talk about Charlie Sheen today.

8. Xander hasn't been written up at school this week.

9. We got gas for $3.66/gallon when most places we saw today were up to $3.89/gallon. Score!

10. I got invited to my neighbor's for coffee and adult conversation tomorrow morning.

How have you been blessed lately?

Almost April?

I can't believe March is almost gone! I'm pretty sure it was just Christmas. Trader Joe's is out of my favorite hot chocolate so I guess it's as good a time as any to welcome spring. Hopefully. We had four inches of snow last week so even though it's *technically* spring you can't really hold your breath around here.

Here's a run down:

The kids requested green scrambled eggs for St. Patrick's Day since they liked when I made them last year. I was multi-tasking this day though, so they were a little burnt which made for an interesting shade of......putrid.

Jordis was excited to wear her new St. Patrick's Day hair band.

She also got to hold an instrument during story time at the nursing home.

I snuck up on her the next day. She hates having her picture taken so it's the only way to do it most of the time without it ending up blurry.

Then I got Lasik! It's incredible! I'm so grateful to Arena Eye Surgeons for giving me a 50% discount since my mom is an employee. I highly recommend the procedure even though my surgeon did his fellowship at LSU.

Xander had spring pictures and decided he wanted spiky hair. He also decided to wear a size 4 shirt and sweater vest that still fit him last summer but now barely comes to his waist band. I haven't made them try on spring/summer clothes yet to weed out the smaller items, so it was still hanging up. I was not a fan of the ensemble, but Jason reminded me that on fall picture day he wouldn't cooperate because he didn't like his outfit, so I let it go. Then he came home and told me he got to stand in the front row for the class photo. Great. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

We had a few warm days and the kids got to skate for the first time this year. Xander outgrew the skates he bought last year at my friend's garage sale, so he let Jordis have them. They are the kind you wear over your shoes. She was so excited and did a really awesome job of scooting down the sidewalk. Xander still has trouble with his rollerblades but I'm sure it takes time. He hasn't worn them but a few times and he's upset because he can't skate down the driveway yet. They both kind of walk with the skates on and call it skating. It's really cute.

March was pretty low key compared to what April will be. We're spending Easter at Jason's brother's, making a few fun stops on the way home, then both the kids and my mom have birthdays coming up.

Stay tuned......

I'm in love...

....shhhh, don't tell Jason. But I've found two new things that I can't live without.

I was with Xander (and Jordis, since Jason had to work) at our bi-weekly trip to Trader Joe's when I came across two items I had never seen before. The cereal is definitely new, given it's placement on an endcap by the free coffee and the sign that said "new" above it. I knew right away that I had to have it. Milk and I are not the best of friends so I wasn't planning to eat it in the traditional sense, but I thought it might make for a good snack, and it definitely does. As only a tasty snack can it has 250 calories, 9 grams of fat and 39 grams of carbs per 3/4 cup serving. But, it also has 23 grams of whole grains, 3 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein. That has to count for something, right?



The hot chocolate I found on the very bottom shelf next to Xander's rice milk. I was down there hiding from the rather large, masculine-looking woman stocking shelves next to me, who Xander had just proclaimed (in his loudest voice) "looks like a ball." Anyone who knows me is well aware of my love for dark chocolate and peppermint. If you can combine the two than all the better. I've had some the past two nights since I brought it home. It's not the creamiest hot chocolate I've ever consumed, but the flavor is wonderful. Just the smell of it makes me feel good.

It's amazing what can make you happy for just $6.

Summer Thus Far

Can you believe it's July already? Knock on wood we haven't had to put the air on as much as usual for this time of year, so that's been really nice. Yesterday it didn't even hit 70 degrees, so I was one happy girl.

We haven't really been doing too much lately. Xander's balloons are still on the back of his chair. Tomorrow is Trader Joe's day though, so perhaps he'll get a new one. Last time we were there we met an employee who's from New Orleans, so perhaps we'll chat with him. Xander was wearing an LSU shirt the last time we were there, so he stopped us to talk about it.

The kids seem to be enjoying summer so far. Last month we took them to my aunt and uncle's for a family cookout and they got to play with cousins. Neither of them were into the sprinkler but they loved the sandbox.



We've also gone on some family walks and the kids are enjoying their swing set.




A few Friday's ago I took the kids to the zoo and we met up with two of my friends and their little boys. We had a nice time and then ate lunch together before checking out the elephants and stopping for cotton candy on the way out. Not surprisingly, the cotton candy was a huge hit with the kids.


This guy was redecorating with some greenery and a carboard box.


Lunch! Xander's all about it.


This is Jordis with her prom date, Arjun. We've already set them up in the event either of them need a date in 16 years.



Nomey decided to walk, she was too big girl for the stroller, so Xander happily took her place.

Not to leave out Jason...he brought his woodworking tools up to the garage and spent some rare free moments building a shelf to display his stein collection in the basement. He gets the Budweiser Christmas stein each year and also has some random others in the mix. He doesn't have quite the fancy tools my grandpa used to own, but enough to do an awesome job, and it looks great on our graffiti wall in the basement. Jason really likes woodworking and is really good at it, so hopefully he can build his tool collection in the coming years.



It's kind of hard to tell from the picture but all the edges are routered, too. I think the next project may be a stool for Jordis so we can put the frame on her bed and she can still get in by herself, because she has to do EVERYTHING herself. The other night we asked the kids where they'd go if they could drive and she answered "the mall." We didn't even realize she knew what the mall was, but knowing her she'd drive there herself today if she could figure out how. Hopefully we can get through a few more summers before she starts hanging out there on a regular basis.

Hope you're all enjoying summer, whatever it is that's going on at your house.

Balloon Blues

We've always had the occasional balloon around the house, some with helium and some without. Recently though, Xander learned (as most of us do at a young age) that a balloon could teach him a lesson in physics.

There's a little grocery store Xan and I love, called Trader Joe's, where they have specialty foods and little shopping carts for kids. With gas being $4/gallon we don't go out of the way to shop there, but it's close to Xander's occupational therapy facility so we make a trip every other Wednesday to stock up on some of Xan's special foods, as they're much cheaper here than at the larger retailers.



On this particular day they had blown up a lot of balloons, and Xander was offered one by the cashier. He doesn't really have a favorite color so I had no idea what he'd pick, but I was impressed with his selection of a magnificent purple balloon. Jason of course would say that it would be the obvious choice, as it is an LSU color, but it really was probably the prettiest balloon they had. It wasn't one of those opaque, filmy-colored balloons, but a translucent, deep purple that you could see someone in through the other side. Very satisfied with his selection Xander's balloon was tied around his wrist and he was warned to hold on to it tightly so that it didn't blow away outside.

It wasn't good enough to just have the balloon, but it had to come with us for the rest of the day. He even took it next door to Meijer, where it kept bopping me in the head as I pushed the cart. It rode him on his arm, came in the house and stayed through dinner. It reminded me of the French movie The Red Balloon, which I watched a lot in kindergarten.



The movie is about a little boy who has a balloon follow him all the time, basically like a stalker. I don't know if it was because we really liked it, or because there was no dialogue which made it quiet, but our kindergarten teacher used to show this movie all the time. Unlike most movies from elementary school where I was more fascinated watching the light come out of the projector, I used to face forward for this movie and actually watch it.

Then after dinner the balloon followed us outside. There was yet again another reminder of making sure to hold on to the balloon even though it's tied around our wrist, because it could slip off and float away. And then it did. And it was quick. As soon as the screaming started and we looked up, the balloon had already risen way above the house. Jason offered to pick Xander up and take him to the front yard so he could watch it's ascent and he actually agreed. So off we went, the four of us, to the front yard to watch the balloon. Without any trees around it was free of obstruction and headed pretty much due north as it traveled upward. Xander wanted to know if it was going to see Jesus and we told him probably. We said maybe Jesus was having a bad day and needed some cheering up by a big purple balloon. What else could we say? Even the next night he woke up crying about the balloon. He wanted to know if he prayed to Jesus would he tell the balloon he missed him. I assured him this would probably work, but that it wasn't going to make his balloon return and I don't think he liked that too much.

But since then we've had more balloons. We went to Red Robin for lunch on Father's Day, where they pass out balloons. He chose purple yet again, though it was more like an opaque lavender. And then last week we were back to Trader Joe's, where they only had white balloons available. He wasn't nearly as satisfied with either of these choices, but he has learned to hold on to them. So much so that now we have a balloon collection tied to the back of his chair in the kitchen. At some point we'll have to figure out a way to explain how balloons just "disappear" after we've carefully kept a handle on them, but that will have to be another day.